Am curious about the tomb of the unknown soldier.?

Question

I thought there was just one buried there, but it seems that there is more than one? Do they bury some unknown body there on a regular basis?

Answer 1

When I visited the tomb of the unknown soldier in the late 70's, there were the remains of three U.S. soldiers who could not be identified, buried there.

When I visited again in the 80's, the remains of another soldier, who died in Vietnam, had been added. Not long after that, however, his remains were actually identified, and were removed for burial by his family.

The tomb is more than symbolic...it's there to hold the remains of ANY U.S. soldier whose remains cannot be identified. This is done because nobody who died while serving his country in such a capacity, should go unaccounted for or unclaimed. It's the least we can do.

Answer 2

One unknown soldier was buried there for each war where there were many unidentified remains killed and buried in "parts unknown" The story goes that it was to help the families of the missing soldiers since there was always a chance that it was their missing family member that was honored in the tomb. I consider the "Old Guard" soldiers that guard the tomb to be among the most disciplined soldiers in the World, guarding the tomb, day and night in every kind of weather. As records of soldiers are getting better and forensics are vastly improving for indentifieng soldiers remains, we may not see any new "tombs of the unknown" from current or future wars.

Answer 3

It was initially named the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Other unknown servicemen were later buried there, and the name became "Tomb of the Unknowns."

Unknown Soldier of World War I, interred November 11, 1921. President Warren G. Harding presided.
Unknown Soldier of World War II, interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided.
Unknown Soldier of the Korean War, also interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight Eisenhower presided again, Vice President Richard Nixon acted as next of kin.
Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War, interred May 28, 1984. President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred May 14, 1998, and were identified as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose family has reinterred him near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been determined that the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain empty.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is perpetually guarded by the U.S. Army. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb April 6, 1948.

Answer 4

In a short answer, no.

The soldiers placed in there final resting place are from each known war. Individuals placed in the tomb of the unknown soldier are only known, but to God.

Many traditions are honored by the manning of the tomb of the unknown soldier. It is a time honored tradation, and requires many hours of dedication 365 days a year and 24 hours a day.

Answer 5

No for every war the U.S. participated in since WWI, they take a soldier who is so mangled, or blown up beyond recognition and they put his body in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Natiuonal Cemetary. Now with DNA sample taken from every soldier in the service, there is NOT going to be anymore unidentified, or unknown soldiers to be buried at Arlington.

Answer 6

Almost all unidentified remains of US soldiers are buried at the tomb of the unknown soldier. It's a pretty interesting back story about that tomb that I won't go into here, but people should check it out on Wikipedia.

Answer 7

there are remains of unknown soldiers form each of our wars from the Revolution on up.

Answer 8

I don't think there will ever be any more. They take DNA samples from everyone now upon enlistment.

Answer 9

It's symbolic of all the soldiers who go MIA/KIA and are unaccounted for (I think).

Answer 10

One from each war. I guess